[ X-mas 2019 ] Message In A Bottle to: YOU from: ME

          
My Dearest T.          
         
and Capt'n of my Heart,          
        
     
         
I.          
         
For a change of pace          
I figured I'd come to you          
         
literarily speaking of course          
         
If I could, I would          
b'little myself into          
accompanying this letter          
         
ship'ping included          
         
and be waiting          
under the tree          
          
a present in need of          
unwrapping          
         
but, seriously ...          
         
         
         
Ii.          
         
Giving          
in the moment          
without-a-second-thought          
response to want or need---         
         
that's true Christmas Spirit          
         
---Mother Nature's womb to a seed             
room inns for the travelled weary          
or war-torn-nation refugeed          
         
I think it's safe to say          
we're agreed          
         
that on December Twenty-Fifth          
many go way overboard          
completely missing the water          
         
yet years later? can neither          
remember nor re-count          
what was given or received          
because insecurity's traditions          
necessitated some "thing[s]"          
exchange hands as long as          
the bank account withdrawal          
didn't exceed a specified          
dollar amount          
         
         
         
III.          
         
When I unwrapped          
the first poem gifted          
to: ME from: YOU          
it was not Christmas Day;          
         
I felt the Spirit regardless       
         
---meticulously crafted stanzas          
freely in form-ing a lonely soul          
that he was worthy of not only          
your unwavering friendship          
         
but Universe's devotion as well          
as it later helped steady his oar;        
         
you, trembling handed          
travelling firstly ashore          
secondly inland, navigating          
upstream on that river of Hope          
with your back turned on its twin          
Doubt          
         
full steam ahead          
never looking behind or about      
         
damn the cannonballs          
         
         
         
IV.          
         
Stranded?          
         
No longer, Darling
          
---exactly where  
you need to be at          
         
for everything in mind          
heartfelt and truly wanted is          
coming to you          
coming to you          
         
the momentum of it all          
an ocean uncorked becoming          
a maelstrom emptying itself          
filling up that beckoning horizon          
with charted experiences          
         
brilliantly inviting you          
to set sail once again;          
taste the intoxicating          
spiced rum of adventure          
from a sky blue chalice         
         
just as I likewise pour          
as much as I can          
of myself into this bottle          
wishing you good health      
calm seas and a fraction of      
the Joy, Happiness, and Love          
you've gifted me          
         
Let Us together be ships          
passing not in the night        
but rather in a daze of glorious          
daydreams          
         
Steadfastedly Yours,          
         
J.